Mr Gouldthorp was in charge of council operations when the wall of water hit Toowoomba and the nearby town of Oakey.

Counsel assisting the inquiry Liz Wilson questioned Mr Gouldthorp about a submission from a council employee at Oakey that was critical of the council's handling of the emergency.

The submission highlighted a lack of public warnings issued to the residents of the town.

Mr Gouldthorp said there was no alert system at present, with council relying heavily on media releases to inform the community and that it did not inform residents through SMS messages.

Ms Wilson asked him whether Toowoomba would benefit from an early warning system.

Mr Gouldthorp said it was a step ahead of where council was at but it was looking to the outcome of the inquiry.

Justice Holmes said it would assist the inquiry to have that knowledge now, and soon after she asked if there was enough warning from the Bureau of Meteorology.

During evidence yesterday the bureau admitted it did not phone the Toowoomba council.

This morning Mr Gouldthorp said he did not think a phone call would have told them what they already knew, but said the disaster control centre, which was on standby, could have been activated 20 minutes earlier.

Toowoomba Mayor Peter Taylor was also asked about the response of disaster management authorities.

He said he was satisfied with the response from Emergency Management Queensland.